CEPI to provide funding of up to US$3 million to accelerate the manufacturing process for RVAC's mRNA vaccine platform technology
RVAC to collaborate with subawardee Micropore Technologies
27 June 2023, OSLO Norway/ WALTHAM, MA/ WILTON, UK: The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and RVAC Medicines (US), Inc. (RVAC), a messenger RNA (mRNA) technology platform company, today announced a new partnership agreement to advance and accelerate the manufacturing process for RVAC's next-generation mRNA vaccine platform technology. Utilizing innovative manufacturing approaches RVAC's mRNA platform, developed in conjunction with Micropore Technologies Ltd. (Micropore), could speed up the manufacturing of mRNA vaccines and help to get doses into arms more quickly when responding to future epidemic or pandemic diseases.
CEPI's partnership with RVAC is the first award to be made under a Call for Proposals launched in May 2023 which seeks to advance manufacturing innovations and technologies that can reduce the time taken to produce vaccines so that they can be made more rapidly available for clinical trials and initial emergency use during future outbreak of disease with epidemic or pandemic potential. CEPI is striving to speed up the manufacturing of vaccines as a critical part of its 100 Days Mission: a goal, supported by the G7 and G20, to dramatically accelerate the development and manufacturing of vaccines against novel viral threats, thereby defusing the threat of a new pathogen with pandemic potential.
CEPI will provide up to US$3 million to support process improvements for RVAC's novel mRNA technology platform leveraging Micropore's unique crossflow micromixing technology. The project aims to integrate the lipid nanoparticle formulation and downstream steps into a continuous manufacturing process for mRNA vaccine technology, and demonstrate comparability or superiority over existing batch manufacturing processes. If successful, the continuous process would speed up the manufacturing of mRNA vaccines, so they are available more quickly to respond to future outbreaks and pandemics. It would also reduce process waste and lower costs, helping to enable equitable access to mRNA vaccines which are currently amongst the most expensive to produce.
mRNA vaccines will be key to tackling future pandemics, but there is scope to improve this relatively new technology so the world has access to mRNA vaccines even more quickly next time Disease X strikes. Speed and access are at the heart of the 100 Days Mission, so we are excited that RVAC's innovative mRNA platform has the potential to make mRNA vaccine manufacturing faster and less costly.
RVAC Medicines is committed to democratizing mRNA vaccines through innovation in the delivery systems and manufacturing processes. We are delighted to partner with CEPI on their mission critical work of pandemic preparedness. With CEPI's support, we plan to establish and validate a continuous process for the development of mRNA vaccines.
In a report published in November 2022, CEPI identified that accelerating vaccine production, scale up and release was a critical enabler of the 100 Days Mission. RVAC's platform technology has the potential to play a role in meeting this mission by contributing to CEPI's library of prototype vaccines and providing a rapid response technology which could be deployed at speed in case of an outbreak of ‘Disease X' — an unknown pathogen with epidemic or pandemic potential.
Enabling equitable access to vaccines
Enabling global equitable access to vaccines is central to CEPI's work and at the heart of the 100 Days Mission. Innovations that accelerate the speed and scaling up of vaccine manufacturing will make a vital contribution to access when facing a future ‘Disease X' by reducing the period during which vaccines against new pathogens are in short supply, thereby significantly increasing the prospects for more equitable distribution. RVAC has committed to ensuring equitable access for the populations who need them to any vaccines developed with CEPI funding on this technology platform, in line with CEPI's Equitable Access Policy.
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About CEPI
CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organizations, launched in 2017, to develop vaccines against future epidemics. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need.
Prior to COVID-19, CEPI's work focused on developing vaccines against Ebola virus, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever virus and Chikungunya virus — it has over 20 vaccine candidates against these pathogens in development. CEPI has also invested in new platform technologies for rapid vaccine development against unknown pathogens (Disease X).
CEPI has played a central role in the global response to COVID-19, supporting the development of the world's largest portfolio of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants with a focus on speed, scale and access, as well as co-leading COVAX, the global initiative to deliver fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. CEPI is also the world's leading funder of R&D for broadly protective coronavirus vaccines which could protect against future variants of COVID-19 as well as other coronaviruses with epidemic and pandemic potential.
CEPI has embarked upon an ambitious US$3.5bn five-year plan — called CEPI 2.0 — to dramatically reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and epidemics. Central to the plan is CEPI's goal — supported by the G7 and G20 — to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days. Achieving this ‘100 Days Mission' would give the world a fighting chance of containing a future outbreak before it spreads to become a global pandemic. Read the plan at endpandemics.cepi.net/
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About RVAC Medicines (US), Inc.
RVAC Medicines (US), Inc. is an mRNA technology company headquartered in Boston. Leveraging its mRNA technology and strategic partnerships, the company is building a pipeline of novel mRNA vaccines and therapeutics to address unmet medical needs. The company is led by an experienced management team, supported by a world-renowned scientific advisory board. For more information, please visit www.rvacmed.com.
About Micropore Technologies Ltd
Micropore Technologies Ltd is a global drug product formulation solutions provider for pharma and biopharma. The company has long built its expertise around microsphere drug pruducts and has, latterly, rapidly developed a growing expertise in nanoparticle drug products at all scales, providing its development and manufacturing technology around the world. For more information, please visit www.microporetech.com.
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RVAC Medicines
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